14 interesting statistical highlights from India vs South Africa, 4th Test at Delhi

The fourth Test between India and South Africa at Delhi saw many records being made and broken.

The Virat Kohli-led young Indian team won the fourth and final Test against South Africa in Delhi by 337 runs and in the process, climbed to the No. 2 spot in the ICC Test rankings. Having already sealed the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead by winning in Mohali and Nagpur, India continued their winning run at Feroz Shah Kotla as well. A clinical India won two out of their three matches inside three days and Ravichandran Ashwin played an instrumental role in those wins. With his 31 wickets, he was adjudged the Man-of-the-Series, while Ravindra Jadeja made a stunning comeback in the series that was dominated by the spinners. Chinmay Jawalekar brings to you the statistical highlights of the series:

1.  India’s win margin of 337 runs is the largest margin of victory for them in terms of runs.

2.  India climbed to the No. 2 spot in the ICC Test rankings after the win. They have now 110 points and are placed behind South Africa, who sit at the top with 114 points despite the series loss.

3.  Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane became only the fifth batsman after Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (who did it three times), Rahul Dravid (who did it twice), and Virat Kohli to score hundreds in both the innings of a Test.

4.  Rahane became the only Indian batsman to post at least one score in excess of 90 in each of his last seven series. He scored 127 and 100 not out in this series, 126 against Sri Lanka at Colombo, 98 against Bangladesh at Fatullah, 147 against Australia at Melbourne, 103 against England at Lord’s, 118 against New Zealand at Hamilton and 96 against South Africa at Durban.

5.  India set South Africa 481 to win. This was the highest target India have ever set against South Africa, eclipsing their 460 at Kanpur in 1996-97.

6.  Rahane’s seven sixes in the match are joint second most by an Indian in a Test. Navjot Singh Sidhu hit eight sixes against Sri Lanka in Lucknow in 1994. Virender Sehwag against Sri Lanka at Brabourne in 2009 and Harbhajan Singh against New Zealand in Hyderabad in 2010 are the other two occasions of seven sixes in a Test.

7.  Jadeja bowled 17 consecutive maidens and missed Bapu Nadkarni’s record of 21 consecutive maidens by four overs. He also bowled 108 consecutive dot balls. The record lies with South African off-spinner Hugh Tayfield, who bowled 137 consecutive dot balls.

8.  The three slowest partnerships (minimum 200 balls) in Test history (RPO) were recorded in this match:

9.  This is India’s 10th win in last 11 Tests at Feroz Shah Kotla. They have drawn the remaining one and that was Anil Kumble’s last Test of the career. He has taken the most wickets at this ground including 10 in an innings.

10.  The Man-of-the-Series award went to Ashwin for the fifth time in his career. He equalled Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, who too have five career awards. India have won six Test series since Ashwin’s debut and he has got the Man-of-the-Series award in 5 of those.

11.  India bowled 89 maiden overs in the second innings of this Test. The last occasion when India bowled more than 80 maidens in an innings was in a Test against New Zealand at Chennai in February 1965, when the bowlers sent down 85 maiden overs.

12.  The defeat margin of 337 runs is South Africa’s second largest in terms of runs and their largest loss since readmission in 1992. Australia beat them by 530 runs in February 1911, which remains their heaviest loss.

13.  For India in Tests, Umesh Yadav’s economy of 0.42 (21-16-9-3) is the second best after Nadkarni’s 0.15 (32-27-5-0) in 1964. (Criteria: 120 balls).

14.  South Africa’s Dane Piedt became the most successful South African spinner after career’s first two Tests. He now has 12 wickets.

(A self-confessed cricket freak, Chinmay Jawalekar is a senior writer with CricLife and CricketCountry. When not writing or following cricket, he loves to read, eat and sleep. He can be followed here @CricfreakTweets)

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